Tar Heels baffled at the plate, face elimination

Published: Monday, June 10, 2013 at 12:45 AM.

Two of North Carolina’s four hits came on singles by Landon Lassiter (2-for-4). Cody Stubbs and Mike Zolk provided a single each for the rest of a quiet offense.

“He’s a good pitcher, he’s got three really good pitches,” Lassiter said of Montgomery. “He located his fastball, his changeup was low in the zone and he just had a good outing.”

Montgomery said the atmosphere of the elimination served as the motivation he needed.

“The elimination game kind of gave me a little more incentive to do good,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t want our seniors to go out that way, so I just wanted to get a win and try to get them back to Omaha.”

After stranding two runners in the first inning, South Carolina didn’t miss its chance to supply Montgomery with run support in the second inning.

A safety squeeze bunt to first that turned into a single scored the game’s first run. Then the Gamecocks added two-run hits by Joey Pankake and LB Dantzler – each with two outs – to drive the score to 5-0 before North Carolina had been through its lineup once.

South Carolina added a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to push its lead further out of reach.

South Carolina knocked out starter Hobbs Johnson in the second inning for the worst start in his three seasons with the Tar Heels.

That led to South Carolina’s 8-0 rout of North Carolina in NCAA Tournament super regional action Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The Gamecocks (43-19) improved to 8-1 in elimination games since 2010.

“Obviously the key to the game was Montgomery, he was sensational for them from the first pitch to the very last one,” said North Carolina coach Mike Fox. “Just a complete game for him and we couldn’t get anything going.”

Montgomery’s gem – a four-hit, one-walk performance – evened the best-of-3 series at 1-1 ahead of tonight’s decisive Game 3. Tonight’s game will start at 7, with North Carolina playing as the designated home team with a trip to the College World Series on the line.

North Carolina (56-10) was shutout for the first time in 96 games – dating back to a 4-0 loss against Miami on April 8 last season. It is the third time the Tar Heels have lost by more than one run this season.

“Jordan was incredible,” said South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook. “To shut out a team like North Carolina, that’s an awfully hard task to do. … He’s an unflappable kid and he was in complete control (Sunday).”

Two of North Carolina’s four hits came on singles by Landon Lassiter (2-for-4). Cody Stubbs and Mike Zolk provided a single each for the rest of a quiet offense.

“He’s a good pitcher, he’s got three really good pitches,” Lassiter said of Montgomery. “He located his fastball, his changeup was low in the zone and he just had a good outing.”

Montgomery said the atmosphere of the elimination served as the motivation he needed.

“The elimination game kind of gave me a little more incentive to do good,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t want our seniors to go out that way, so I just wanted to get a win and try to get them back to Omaha.”

After stranding two runners in the first inning, South Carolina didn’t miss its chance to supply Montgomery with run support in the second inning.

A safety squeeze bunt to first that turned into a single scored the game’s first run. Then the Gamecocks added two-run hits by Joey Pankake and LB Dantzler – each with two outs – to drive the score to 5-0 before North Carolina had been through its lineup once.

South Carolina added a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to push its lead further out of reach.

“We just wanted to keep scoring … out of respect for North Carolina’s offense,” Holbrook said. “I’m not going to feel comfortable with any lead. They can score runs in a hurry.”

But a comeback seemed unlikely after the Tar Heels were constantly baffled by Montgomery. As Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” played in the middle of the eighth inning, Carolina blue-clad fans filed out of the gates.

The masterpiece painted by Montgomery served to swing bullpen favor in the Gamecocks’ favor. On the other hand, the Tar Heels’ bullpen has thrown 13 of 17 possible innings in the series, putting the pressure on Benton Moss (8-1, 3.78 ERA), tonight’s starter.

Moss has allowed 23 hits and 13 runs in his last 13 2/3 innings (three starts), including a grand slam against Florida Atlantic in the ninth inning of last Monday night’s game.

Fox said his message to the team following the game would be short, with an implied meaning.

“If I have to say a whole lot, they’re missing the picture here,” Fox said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy, our last two or three weeks hasn’t been easy. Less is more at this point.”

-- EXTRA BASES …: South Carolina freshman lefty Jordan Wynkoop (7-3, 2.92) will start tonight. … The Gamecocks have not used a right-handed pitcher in two games. Eight of North Carolina’s 10 losses have come against left-handed starters. … It was the first shutout in an NCAA Tournament game by a South Carolina starter since Chris Hernandez beat East Carolina 4-0 with a five-hitter in the first game of a regional series in 2003.